Ivey returns to Sixers' rotation

OKLAHOMA CITY — Royal Ivey has been granted a second lease on his season. And all it took was strep throat.

Ivey, who of late has reclaimed his backup point guard duties for the 76ers, has returned to coach Doug Collins’ rotation on this season-long, eight-game roadtrip. Prior to that, the ninth-year man had not played in 13 of 16 games.

“I thought it was going to be a couple days and it ended up being a couple weeks of not having any energy and feeling weak all the time,” Ivey said Friday, before the Sixers faced the Oklahoma City Thunder. “Jrue (Holiday) was hurt at the time and those were some valuable minutes I could’ve stolen. I just had to stay with it.”

Entering the game against the Thunder, the reigning Western Conference champions with whom he played last season, Ivey had played an average of 12 minutes per game his last four times out. Compared with the minutes played by rookie Maalik Wayns, who hadn’t seen the floor since a Dec. 19 start at Houston, it’s clear Ivey is Collins’ go-to ballhandler off the bench.

“It’s just the nature of the business,” Ivey said. “We’re competing for minutes and it doesn’t go your way, you have to come back strong and have good games. I’ve been here before. It’s a feel you have to get. You have to compete. It’s in the back of your head. You have to compete for minutes.”

Aside from expecting minutes against his former club, Ivey said he anticipated a raucous crowd at Chesapeake Energy Arena, which has been filled to capacity for the Thunder’s last 85 games.

“It’s like a college environment,” he said. “I would always tell people, you know, when new guys and rookies come in, they’re like freshman and I was considered a senior.

“(The Thunder) are going to be ready for us. They don’t lose two in a row at home (OKC lost to Brooklyn Wednesday). They’re going to come with their hard hats and we have to be ready in the first quarter. They always sell out.”

The Thunder have gone 30 home dates without consecutive losses in their building, a string that dates to last March.

“We’ve always had that bounce-back toughness to win games,” said Thunder coach Scott Brooks, a former Sixer. “We don’t like to lose one game, let alone two in a row, and particularly at home.”

***Jrue Holiday’s chances at earning a roster spot in the All-Star Game will hinge greatly on what he does the next nine days, before fan voting closes.

Should you ask around the Sixers’ locker room, Holiday’s all-star material regardless. At least that’s how it’s seen by Ivey, who’s played with Holiday and Oklahoma City’s all-star point guard Russell Westbrook.

“Jrue is similar, but he’s quiet. Russell’s more vocal, he’s more animated,” Ivey said. “And Jrue, he’s more reserved, but Jrue has that same competitive nature. He gets after it. It’s similar. They’re both pitbulls – one is a blue nose, one is a red nose.”

***A busted pipe at the team hotel provided an early wake-up call for the Sixers, and also led to this tweet from Spencer Hawes: “So the hotel is flooding in okc. Don’t remember this ever being an issue in seattle.”

Presumably the Seattle-born Hawes is still chapped that the NBA relocated the Sonics to Oklahoma City.

**NOTES: Holiday played despite a minor right groin strain. … Crimson was a popular color at the arena, where Oklahoma football fans chose watching the Thunder live to viewing the Cotton Bowl, between Oklahoma and Texas A&M, on television.